Movie trailers are the most powerful tool a studio or a distributor has in marketing a film. Many will complain that the art of the movie trailer has long since passed. Today, it seems as if the audience must be shown every single good moment, funny joke, or awe inspiring action sequence to get their butts in the theater. YouTube as become a great place to see trailers from years passed, red ban trailers, and for foreign films. The following trailer got my attention and is our topic of discussion in the DVD Shopping Bag this week. For you viewing pleasure, here is the trailer for Norwegian Ninja.
I know, right? Pretty damn cool. It looks to have everything including a sense of humor. After I saw this trailer, I immediately hunted down the film. It was released in Norway last year and will make its DVD debut next week. The film itself is a comedy (obviously) but wraps its story around actual historical events. The film makers used real news footage and even spun their story as a behind the scenes look. It won two awards at Fantastic Fest in 2010 for Best Director (Thomas Cappelen Malling) and Best Actor (Mads Ousdal). It was even hailed by the Wall Street Journal as “Hilarious and Menacing”.
Now, do you want the opinion of someone you know (me) who has actually seen it? I believe that Mania is a community of like-minded people. We may or may not always agree on films but, for the most part, we congregate here because we all have a great love of movies.
I’ll be honest with you; after I saw the trailer for Norwegian Ninja, I was incredibly giddy with joy. When a copy showed up on my doorstep a few weeks later, I was bouncing off the walls and immediately brought over a few friends to watch it. They had all been sent the trailer (via YouTube) and this was our event for the evening. Sadly, tears of joy were not shed. The film is packed with comical James Bond moments that superseded much of what Mike Myers did in Austin Powers (1997). Unfortunately, these action sequences dragged on and the jokes became stale. This is more in the vein of what Myers did in Austin Powers 2 and 3. Many of the characters are superfluous and have little explanation or bearing to the story. At first, I thought this might be a cultural difference and I didn’t understand Norwegian comedic timing or their filming style. However Trollhunter, also Norwegian and out today, was incredibly entertaining and the language barrier wasn’t a problem.
I leave it to you now. You have the trailer in front of you for Norwegian Ninja. The film will be out next week. I ask for your reviews and opinions here on Mania. Contact me via my Mania account and I will post your reviews in two weeks.
Top 5 Picks of the Week:
1. Trollhunter [Blu-ray]
2. Barry Lyndon [Blu-ray]
3. Win Win [Blu-ray]
4. Swingers [Blu-ray]
5. The Women in Cages Collection (Roger Corman's Cult Classics Triple Feature) (The Big Bird Cage / Big Doll House / Women in Cages) [Blu-ray]
ACTION / ADVENTURE / KUNG FU/ THRILLERS / WESTERNS
The Bleeding House Starring Alexandra Chando, Patrick Breen and Nina Lisandrello
Blitz [Blu-ray] Starring Jason Statham, Paddy Considine, Aiden Gillen and Luke Evans
Blitz (includes Digital Copy)
Chameleon Starring Marc-Andre Grondin, Ellen Barkin and Famke Janssen
Cold Fish Starring Asuka Kurosawa, Denden, Hikari Kajiwara
The Eves Starring Matthew Albrecht, Cathy Baron, Stewart Calhoun
Fake Starring Robert Loggia, Fisher Stevens, Jill Flint and Gabriel Mann
Godfather Squad / Bruce's Last Battle Starring Siu-Lung Leung, Shirley Corrigan, Gordon Mitchell
Hostage [Blu-ray] Starring Bruce Willis, Kevin Pollack and Jimmy Bennett
Hostage
House of Fallen - UNRATED Starring Corbin Bernsen, C. Thomas Howell and Richard Fullerton
Lion Vs Lion Starring Lo Meng and Wong Yue
Little Big Soldier (Bluray + DVD Combo) [Blu-ray] Starring Jackie Chan and Leehom Wang
Little Big Soldier
Road to Nowhere Starring John Diehl, Waylon Payne, Shannyn Sossamon
Road to Nowhere (Blu-ray)
Rounders [Blu-ray] Starring Matt Damon, Edward Norton and Paul Cicero
Tracker Starring Ray Winstone, Temuera Morrison, Gareth Reeves
The Women in Cages Collection (Roger Corman's Cult Classics Triple Feature) (The Big Bird Cage / Big Doll House / Women in Cages) [Blu-ray] Starring Pam Grier, Judy Brown and Sid Haig
ANIME
Beyblade: Metal Fusion Volume 4
Samurai Girls Complete Collection
Samurai Girls: Complete Collection [Blu-ray]
Sgt. Frog: Season Three, Part Two Starring Jamie Marchi, Leah Clark, Christopher R. Sabat
CARTOONS
Angel Wars: Angel Wars Dvd Box Set
The Angry Beavers: Seasons One & Two Starring Richard Steven Horvitz and Nick Bakay
Bambi 2 Starring Patrick Stewart
Bambi II (Two-Disc Special Edition Blu-ray / DVD Combo in Blu-ray Packaging)
Bambi II (Two-Disc Special Edition Blu-ray / DVD Combo in DVD Packaging)
Phineas & Ferb the Movie: Across the 2nd Dimension Starring Vincent Martella and Kelly Hu
Tom & Jerry & The Wizard of Oz
Tom and Jerry & The Wizard of Oz [Blu-ray]
CLASSICS
Barry Lyndon [Blu-ray] Starring Ryan O'Neal, Patrick Magee and Hardy Kruger
Behave Yourself (UK PAL Region 0) Starring Shelley Winters and Farley Granger
Follow Me Quietly Starring William Lundigan, Jeff Corey and Charles D. Brown
Lolita [Blu-ray] Starring James Mason and Peter Sellers
The Master Touch (UK PAL Region 0) Starring Kirk Douglas and Giuliano Gemma
One Minute to Zero Starring Robert Mitchum, William Talman, Charles McGraw
Rise & Fall of Legs Diamond Starring Ray Danton
Threat Starring Michael O'Shea and Charles McGraw
COMEDY AND LOVE Mania Style
Ernest Goes to Camp [Blu-ray] Starring Jim Varney, Victoria Racimo and John Vernon
Ernest Goes to Jail [Blu-ray] Starring Jim Varney, Gailard Sartain and Bill Byrge
Ernest Scared Stupid [Blu-ray] Starring Jim Varney, Eartha Kitt and Austin Nagler
The Greatest Movie Ever Sold Starring Morgan Spurlock and Ralph Nader
Criterion Collection
Secret Sunshine: The Criterion Collection [Blu-ray] Starring Do-yeon Jeon and Kang-ho Song
Secret Sunshine (Criterion Collection)
HORROR
By The Devil's Hand: The 666 Killer Starring Susana Gibb
Closed For The Season Starring Aimee Brooks, Damian Maffei and Joe Unger
Followed Home Starring Zachary Ryan Block and Ray Rozmiarek
Peeping Blog Starring Elissa Dowling, Creep Creepersin Ariauna Albright
Shockorama: The William Beaudine Collection
The Snow Creature (UK PAL Region 0) Starring Leslie Denison and Paul Langton
Super Hybrid Starring Oded Fehr, Shannon Beckner and Ryan Kennedy
Super Hybrid [Blu-ray]
Trollhunter [Blu-ray] Starring Otto Jespersen, Robert Stoltenberg, Knut Nærum
Trollhunter
MODERN CLASSICS on BLU-RAY
Swingers [Blu-ray] Starring Vince Vaughn, Heather Graham, Jon Favreau
SCIENCE FICTION / FANTASY
Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend [Blu-ray] Starring Sean Young and William Katt
Battle: New York - Day 2 Starring Nat Cassidy and Christopher Frederick
Incredible Melting Man (review coming soon)
Master of the World Starring Vincent Price (review coming soon)
Meteor Storm Starring Michael Trucco and Kirsten Prout
Roger Corman's Cult Classics Sword And Sorcery Collection (Deathstalker, Deathstalker II, The Warrior And The Sorceress & Barbarian Queen) Starring Rick Hill, Barbi Benton, David Carradine and Lana Clarkson
TV LAND
Bonanza - Adventures with the Cartwrights Starring Lorne Greene, Michael Landon and Dan Blocker
Brothers & Sisters: The Complete Fifth Season Starring Sally Fields, Calista Flockhart, Dave Annable
The Event: The Complete Series Starring Jason Ritter, Zeljko Ivanek and Blair Underwood
Medical Center: The Complete First Season Starring Chad Everett and James Daly
NCIS - The Complete Eighth Season Starring Mark Harmon and Michael Weatherly
NCIS: Los Angeles - The Second Season Starring Chris O'Donnell and LL Cool J
Off the Map: Complete Series Starring Jonathan Castellanos, Jason George, Zach Gilford
Phineas & Ferb the Movie: Across the 2nd Dimension Starring Vincent Martella and Kelly Hu
Prime Suspect: Series 1 Starring Helen Mirren
Prime Suspect: Series 2 Starring Helen Mirren
Robert Trate writes two weekly columns for Mania the DVD Shopping Bag and the Toy Maniac. Follow Robert on Twitter for his for Geek ramblings, Cosplay photos and film criticisms.
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